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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1994-05-18, Page 10Page 10 ,Luclommi Sentinel, Wednesday, May I8,.1994 �-- Port Elgin man witnesses the fall of apartheid HURON LANDSCA PING --- MORE THAN JUST A NURSERY $ gift $ Certificate: Fruit Tres Your Outdoor Livingroom SEE TONY GINGRICH OUR LANDSCAPE DESIGNER 26% OFF - Clay Open Pots July 1st Canada Day IGRE atucon 1 ,GIFT randyeatln9 IDEAS. — .Clmlatcc� INSTANT SHADE TREE FOR DAD ekdhtbJ BUTTERFLY ' -.BUSHES,. Hours: Mon to Sat 8-6 . Closed Sunday (519) 529-7247 = ' • PARK' THEATRE ._•i= i •isur GOOEAICH 524.7911 LEL JODIE GIBBON FOSTER >s. .1 • yv .. i a • ALES GARNER flIpII�D.00NN[B,. FRT. - THI RS. FRI. &SAT. 7 '& 9:10 pm MAY 20 - 26 SUN - THURS 8 pm $ PARENTAL ■ GUIDANCE LONG DISTANCE? CALL 1-1100-265-3431 FOR TOLL FREE MOVIE INFO South Africa free at last by John Peevers Some expected lightning and thunder, but after 400 years of racial oppression, democracy shuf- fled slowly into South Africa. For Ken Luckhardt of Port Elgin, who was there as an election obser- ver, the most vivid image of this historic occasion is the snake -like lines, several kilometres long of black South Africans waiting under sweltering skies to vote for the very first time. "When you're looking at a 75 -year-old, 80 -year-old woman standing in a queue that snaked around the townships for literally kilometres, under very hot, boiling sun, to vote for the first time in her life., it's an incredible thing to ob- serve." An incredible thing indeed and for Luckhardt the culmination of a passionate, life-long interest in the plight of black South Africans. In the 70s this trade unionist, who is now the head of the Paid Education Leave program at the CAW Family Education Centre, travelled with his wife to Africa to write the official history of trade unions in South Africa. The request came from the South 'African Congress of Trade Unions, which was, at the time, an underground movement The book was published in 1980. It was, Luckhardt states with an air of apparent melancholy, a near impossible task. Twenty year later he set foot again on South African soil to witness another task which many thought was impossible. Ironically the outspoken long-time opponent of the apartheid system was placed into a role of objectivity where he was unable to 'wear his heart on his sleeve. • Luckhardt insists it was not difficult to maintain his neutrality. "That was no problem because it really was important that the inter- national community be there and be seen to he there to oversee the elections, " And while some allegations of improprieties have been made Luckhardt is emphatic in his insis- tence that it was a. fair election. "It was clearly a free and fair election. It clearly expressed the will of the people." Now that he has returned to Canada Luckhardt makes no at- tempt to hide his feelings. They are evident in his voice when he describes his meeting with an elder- ly black woman he talked to after she voted for the first time in her life. She said simply, "I feel very free." The election •difficulties which received a great deal of attention by the international media was "free and fair" according to Luckhardt. "One thing that really has to be understood by Canadians is the near impossibility, almost, of putting this thing together in three months time." Many of the problems' which were reported by the media were the result op the late addition of the Inkatha Freedom Party to the elec- toral process, Luckhardt said. The IFP announced its intention to run just seven days prior to the election. All of the ballots which had been printed ahead of time had to be modified with a sticker across the bottom. "Getting that stuff out to over 9,000 .polling stations across the country...sometimes the stickers didn't arrive, sometimes they didn't arrive in sufficient numbers..," Luckhardt's 'voice trails tiff as he tries to convey the enormityof the task. Luckhardt spreads •out some of the souvenirs of the momentous DROP OFF ALL ARTICLES AT THE ARENA OR FOR PICK-UP Lucknow - Donald MacKinnon 528-3043, Bill Hunter 528-2009 or Murray Henderson 528-3334 Ashfield - Henry Van Dyke - 395-3134 West Wawanosh - Cecil Cranston - 529-7691 Kinloss - Alan MacDougall - 395-2786 ALL PROCEEDS FOR COMMUNITY BETTERMENT occasion on his orderly wooden desk. They include newspapers, pictures, posters, and the armband and hat bearing the words "election observer" that he wore every day. The items also include a sample ballot bearing the name, symbol, acronym of each party and a photo • of the party leader. The photos were necessary, Luckhardt explains, due to the fact that millions of South Africans are unable to read or write. "It (illiteracy) is one of the many legacies of the apartheid system that now has to be addressed by the new government," Luckhardt.states. Another factor which caused problems at the polls is that, under the apartheid system; the white minority government simply did not know how many black South Africans there are. Combine with .this the fact that they were holding provincial and federal election at the Same time and that voters were allowed to cast their ballot at any .of the 9,000 polling stations across the country and it is no wonder problems oc- curred, Luckhardt contends "There was seemingly an obses- sion to • want to talk about the problems with the procedure, when what really was the story was the incredible determination of the, people to queue up . for hours on end in boiling hot sun." • Luckhardt was' part of a delegation of 13 labour unionists sent by the Canadian • Labour Congress. to help oversee the elec- tion process. There were ap- proximately 2,500 international observers in South Africa, 60 of .which' were Canadian: . The observers' role was to .assist voters, to make sure they knew how to vote . and to observe elections making sure they were being •car - •See. 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